Physical exerciser



July 8, 1958 w 'r. F. KELLEY 2,842,365

PHYSICAL EXERCISER Filed Feb. 7, 1956 INVENTOR 720M F. KELLEY ATTORNEYUnite States Pate PHYSICAL EXERCISER Thomas F. Kelley, New York, N. 1.

Application February 7, 1%6, Serial No. 564,035,

3 Claims. (Cl. 272-69) This invention relates to exercising devices, andmore specifically to new and useful improvements in exercising devicesof a type upon which one may tread in simulated walk or run movements;and it is the object of this invention to produce a device of this typeupon which one may execute an exercise simulating mans natural walk orrun movements and doing so without exerting excess strains that areunnatural to this type of exercise.

Another object of this invention is to produce a more simple, attractiveand portable exercising device of this type, which also may beeconomical to produce, so as to be more available to every household,conveniently presenting to more people the opportunity of partaking ofthis beneficial type of exercise in privacy.

It is a further object to produce a device that can be used inconjunction with doing other time-consuming things, as carrying on aconversation, listening to the radio, looking at a television program,and so forth.

It is a further object to provide a device of the character describedwhich is simple and inexpensive in construction, light in weight andeasily transportable.

It is a further object to produce a device of the character described inwhich varying degrees of resistance to the bodily movement may beobtained without the need of mechanical adjustment.

In a natural walk or run movement, a treaders body is displaced to a newarea by passing over the foots bearing surface, whereas in exercisingdevices of a treadmill type the treaders body is retained to a smallgiven area and the foots bearing surface moves under the body in asimulated walk or run movement.

In prior devices of the treadmill type, the treading surface is inclinedand designed to move under the foot of the user, and generally it takeseither the form of an endless belt mounted on rollers or a plurality ofrollers laid side by side. In either case, some arrangement is made toadjust the resistance of the movement of the treading surface in orderto control the amount of exercise.

In accordance with the invention, it has been found that thesedifliculties can be overcome by making the treading surface of asuitable shape and immovable, with a properly selected lubricant, sothat the foot of the user may slide down over the surface against thesliding resistance, without moving the surface.

It has further been found that the adjustment of the degree of exercisemay be obtained without altering the surface if different portions ofthe surface are of differing inclinations to the horizontal.

The invention accordingly comprises the device hereinafter described andshown in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspectiveview of the treading block with the user and the handles shown in dottedlines; Fig. 2 is similar to Fig. 1, but showing a modification of thetreading surface; Fig. 3 is a side elevation; Fig. 4 is an end elevationof a similar device having a modified shape of treading surface; andFigs. 5 and 6 are respectively similar views showing a furthermodification.

Referring now to Fig. l, the numeral 10 represents the body of thedevice which may be of general box-like construction except that itsupper surface 11 is of upwardly concave cylindrical shape. I have foundthat the most satisfactory shape is obtained if the cylinder has itsaxis substantially in alignment with the hip joint of the user, as shownat 12.

For convenience in use, I prefer to mount near one end of the bodyhandles 13 which extend upwardly and at the top downwardly as shown, soas to be readily grasped by the user.

In use, the user will ordinarily wear socks and the surface lll will becoated with a suitable anti-friction lubricant. The lubricant which Ihave found most satisfactory is powdered borax, which gives just aboutsufficient friction to make the exercise pleasant at a normal rate ofspeed.

By reason of the fact that the surface is curved, the user has thechoice of climbing up a little further on the hill in front of him, andthereby increasing the strenuousness of the exercises, or of contentinghimself with shorter steps for less vigorous action.

As the foot strides toward the bottom and the next step is taken, therear foot tends to climb slightly on the rear end of the device as thenext step is taken forward.

The action we have thus described can be varied from a very mild form toa very strenuous exercise at will. Moreover, since there are no movingparts and since the socks slide noiselessly over the surface, under theinfluence of the lubricant, the whole action is so quiet that it doesnot interfere with listening to the radio, television, conversation, orwith a persons reading.

In the construction shown in Fig. 2, the from half of the treadingsurface is in a downwardly inclined plane instead of the cylindricalsurface previously described. This permits a somewhat longer stride ifdesired.

In the construction shown in Figs. 3 and 4, this tread surface is curvedslightly downwardly in cross-section in the middle to give it a hollowtrough efiect tending to keep the feet from sliding off the outer edgesof the body 10, if any particular user finds a tendency to do so.

In Figs. 5 and 6, a further modification is provided to overcome thisdifiiculty, if the user should find it necessary, and in this devicegrooves 15 may be cut in the surface 11 tending to hold the feet fromsliding sideways.

From the foregoing construction, it will be seen that the device isquite simple to manufacture; that it is quiet because it has no movableparts; and that this degree of exercise can be readily adjusted byclimbing higher on the high side of the surface 11 at each step, withoutthe need of any adjusting mechanism.

What I claim is:

1. An exerciser comprising a base structure having a treading surface ofsubstantially the length of a step of a user, said surface beinginclined upwardly from the bottom toward each end to form a front andrear portion, and having a slick surface over which the feet of the usermay slide, and the surface being such that lines normal to the twoportions of the surface intersect substantially at the waist of the userof the device.

2. A device in accordance with claim 1, having handles supported fromthe base in position to be grasped by the person treading on itssurface.

3. An exerciser in accordance with claim 1 in which the treading surfaceis substantially cylindrical.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS897,722 Day Sept. 1, 1908 1,290,562 Jacquot Jan. 7, 1919 1,406,765Shackle Feb. 14, 1922

